


i'll tell you about the magic, and it'll free your soul

by theformerone



Series: Naruto Couples Week 2018 [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, Naruto Couples Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 21:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13843461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theformerone/pseuds/theformerone
Summary: Sakura literally has no idea how Ino is a Ravenclaw. She's the dumbest blonde she's ever met in her life.Day 4: In another world





	i'll tell you about the magic, and it'll free your soul

**Author's Note:**

> title lifted from The Lovin' Spoonful's 'Do You Believe in Magic'

 

She's packing up after Charms when it happens again. 

Someone bumps into her by 'accident'. It sends her school things flying. Naruto and Sasuke are in Divination, so she doesn't have anyone around to help her with her things. She gets to her knees on her own and starts picking up quills and parchment and textbooks, and ignores the soft whispers of 'muggleborn' and 'mudblood' that try to trap her on the ground. 

Sakura's been getting these taunts since her first year. She's a fifth year now, and she thinks she should have learned how to deal with it without wanting to cry. 

Then there's the telltale sound of a hex being fired and before Sakura can draw her own wand to defend herself, Ami, one of her lifetime bullies, is sporting a rather dramatic pair of donkey ears. There's a tail, too. 

Ami screeches and it sounds like a bray. Her friends huddle around her shooting death glares at the room. They look at Sakura, but she doesn't have her wand in her hand. When they can't find the perpetrator amongst the Ravenclaws, they leave. 

"You shouldn't let them do that to you."

Sakura turns and finds herself face to face with Yamanaka Ino. She's only the prettiest girl in her year and a pureblood whose family practically wrote the books on Legilimency and Occlumency. Sakura would know; she has the books in her room. 

"If you let them, they'll keep going," Ino says. "And they'll never stop."

Sakura furrows her brows and looks away from Yamanaka Ino's pretty blue eyes and glossy pink lips. 

"What do you know about it?" she asks, her face suddenly hot with embarrassment. 

She starts moving faster to gather her things, not wanting to feel even more like an idiot for not defending herself. She knows her fellow Hufflepuffs would have stood up for her if they were around; Sakura knows for a fact that Chouji would have thrown himself bodily in the way of any attack that came her way. But Sakura had stayed late to ask Professor Yūhi a couple of questions and well… 

Not all Ravenclaws were as nice as Ino. 

"I've seen you in Defense," Ino says as she gathers the rolls of parchment that flew out of Sakura's bag. "You decked Uchiha after he disarmed you once, in third year. You're not helpless."

Sakura looks up at the other girl warily. Punching Sasuke in the face had been incredibly cathartic for thirteen year old Sakura. He was a pureblood and had treated her like shit despite the strong friendship she and Naruto shared. She discovered that his ire was roused only because he thought she liked Naruto romantically. Sakura had very firmly told him that she chased skirts and not trousers; it was kind of messed up how quickly they became friends after that. 

"I know," Sakura replies. Because she knows she isn't helpless. She's known how to defend herself longer than she's known how to use magic. Her parents are muggle combat instructors; being able to punch the snot out of someone is kind of the family business. 

"So stop acting like it."

Ino hands her the rolls of parchment and Sakura takes them back in a huff. Who does she think she is? She's probably never been bullied in her life, she has no idea what Sakura goes through, what Sakura's been through since she first came to Hogwarts all on account of her muggle parents.

Ino was a pretty girl, but probably a dumb blonde that had only gotten into Ravenclaw in the first place because of her family's legacy for being able to see into people's minds and not for any merit on her own part. She paid more attention to her nails than their lessons, and complained about her outfits being ruined during Care of Magical Creatures. Her hair was her top priority, not her grades. She was vapid, bored, lazy, and superficial. Never mind that she was stunning, she was the opposite of what a Ravenclaw was supposed to be.

And now she thought she could talk to Sakura about being bullied? For being a minority? Not for the first time, Sakura marvels at how smart Ravenclaws are academically but how completely inept they are socially.

"Thanks," she says snidely. "I'll keep that in mind."

Ino rolls her eyes like she knows exactly what Sakura is thinking. Sakura stuffs her things back in her bag and stands. She turns to walk away, feeling stupid and annoyed and unsure of how she's going to tell Naruto and Sasuke why she's late for lunch when Ino's voice calls out, "Haruno! You forgot something!"

Sakura stops and turns like she's being led to her execution. Ino is looking down at the book in her hands, carefully studying the cover, then opening it to flip through the pages. After a brief perusal, her pupil-less blue eyes snap up to Sakura with what can only be described as predatory curiosity.

”You’re taking Healing as an extracurricular?”

Sakura feels suddenly and incredibly scrutinized. She hadn't known Ino could make a face like that. She knew Chouji was one of Ino's best friends, but he rarely spoke about her if it wasn't for a story about the childhood they had spent together with their third friend, Shikamaru. 

Sakura's pretty sure that Chouji doesn't tell people about this side of Ino for a reason. 

”Yeah, I mean," Sakura says intelligently. "Um. Yeah.”

Ino shakes her head like Sakura's being ridiculous, then looks down at the book again. 

”I'm impressed,” she says. 

Sakura's hands worry the hem of her sweater; it's a habit she hasn't picked up since the last time she had a crush on a pretty blonde girl with blue eyes. Sabaku no Temari was a Durmstrang  _goddess_. 

”Really?"

Ino gives Sakura that look again, the one that says Sakura is an idiot, and it is a miracle that she has been alive this long. 

"Senju doesn't let just anyone take her courses," Ino explains. ”Healing takes really precise wand work and magic. And you're taking it as a fifth year! She doesn't let anyone into her courses until at least seventh."

The new information rocks Sakura back on her heels. She had known that Tsunade was a picky professor, with whom independent studies were a hit or miss. In that sometimes she would try to hit you and you had to pray she missed. Tsunade had grown up and fought in the last Wizarding World War; she was an ardent believer that medi-witches and wizards needed to be able to perform under fire, or else what use were they to a world almost constantly on the brink of disaster?

But Sakura hadn't known she was special because of her classes with Tsunade. She had looked at the small size of the classroom, shared with Karin (a Slytherin, and one of Naruto's cousins) and Kabuto (also a Slytherin, and complete dick) and had just assumed that nobody else had signed up for it. 

"Oh," is all she can manage to say. 

"Oh indeed," Ino replies. 

She gives Sakura a calculating look before she hands her back the textbook. It's a look that lets Sakura know that she's been extraordinarily wrong in assuming Ino is just another dumb blonde. 

"We should study together."

Sakura blinks, feeling slightly winded. 

"What?"

Ino flips her ponytail over her shoulder and Sakura is met with a wave of jasmine. It's nice. It's really nice. 

"I'm top girl in Charms," Ino says, "but my technique needs work. You've got low marks in Divination. I'll teach you how to open your third eye, if you show me how to alter my wand work."

Sakura narrows her eyes. 

"How do you know I have low marks in Divination?"

Ino give her a little wink; Sakura is reminded of the fact that Chouji sincerely thinks Ino knows everything. He might actually be right. 

"That's cute," Ino replies. "So what do you say?"

Sakura kind of feels like she's been hit by a bus. Did Ino just call her cute? Or was she making fun of her? Or both? Both would be fine. 

"Sure," Sakura says, trying not to choke on her own tongue. 

Ino gives her a winning smile and claps her hands. Sakura holds her book close to her chest so she doesn't keel over. 

"Great," Ino coos. "We can meet in the library on Tuesday evenings, how's that sound?"

"I have Quidditch," Sakura replies. "Thursdays?"

Ino purses her lips as if she's running her entire schedule through her head before giving one sharp nod. 

"Sounds good! See you round, Haruno."

Sakura's pretty sure she's got whiplash. When Ino's halfway out the door, something occurs to Sakura, something that makes her dart towards the girl. The sound of running makes Ino stop and turn around, one finely trimmed eyebrow arched at Sakura's sudden enthusiasm. 

"You fired that spell, didn't you?"

Ino tucks her blonde bangs out of her eyes and says, "You can't prove it."

She's not a dumb blonde, but Sakura fell for it just like everyone else did. It's clever, now that she thinks about it, to make sure people underestimate you by playing to their expectations. Ino was a dumb blonde because people thought she should be; but she also knew a hex that could make a girl an ass. She was playing to her own strengths, lowballing her intelligence so others would underestimate her, so that they wouldn't see her coming. Only Ravenclaws and Slytherins think that way, and now that Sakura's thinking on it herself, wasn't Ino a hat-stall their first year?

"That's -," Sakura swallows. "You should teach me that hex."

Ino's smiles are freely given and all of them are incredibly dangerous. 

"I'll teach you if you can keep up, Haruno."

Scratch that. Sakura definitely has whiplash. And she kind of likes it.


End file.
